Overview Historically, when sex education was introduced to the general public, content was focused on puberty education for cisgender people, heterosexual sex, pregnancy prevention, and reduction of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). During that time, there was a great deal of stigma and discrimination associated with being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA)….
The following is a confidential report on several candidates being considered for our church leader. Adam: Good man but problems with his wife. Also one reference told of how his wife and he enjoy walking nude in the woods. Noah: Former pastorate of 120 years with not even one convert. Prone to unrealistic building projects….
Christine Hallquist is a former energy executive who has stepped out from behind the CEO desk to step into the Vermont governor’s race. She’s married, and a parent. She’s a long-time Democrat running to unseat a Republican governor in a state where that party has held the seat since 1963. She’s also a transgender woman…
What can we learn from St. Mary the Mother of Jesus that can apply to us today? Is she relevant to us today? Does she have anything to say to us now that will help us today? Recently I have been studying about Mary and trying to understand, venerate and honor her properly. The following…
God knows all about me. Before you were formed in the body of your mother I had knowledge of you, and before your birth I made you holy. ~ Jeremiah 1:5a God has a plan for my life. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and…
1. All-or-nothing thinking – You see things in black-or-white categories. If a situation falls short of perfect, you see it as a total failure. When a young woman on a diet ate a spoonful of ice cream, she told herself, “I’ve blown my diet completely.” This thought upset her so much that she gobbled down…
1. Don’t undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special. 2. Don’t set your goals by what other people deem important. Only you know what is best for you. 3. Don’t take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling to them…
Shortly after becoming a Christian in 1969 at sixteen years of age, Stevens-Pino wrote “For Those Tears I Died (Come to the Water)”, a song that was translated into 11 languages and became widely known and sung in charismatic Christian churches. After seven years of marriage Marsha came out as lesbian. She was ostracized and…
There’s something I need to tell you ….. (cartoon)
I’m too fabulous to fit in
Shrimp, crab, lobster, clams, mussels, all these are an abomination before the Lord, just as gays are an abomination. Why stop at protesting gay marriage? Bring all of God’s law unto the heathens and the sodomites. We call upon all Christians to join the crusade against Long John Silver’s and Red Lobster. Yea, even Popeye’s shall be cleansed. The name of Bubba shall be anathema. We…
Four novice nuns were about to take their vows. Dressed in their white gowns, they came into the chapel with the Mother Superior, and were about to undergo the ceremony to marry them to Jesus, making them “Brides of Christ.” Just as the ceremony was about to begin, four Hasidic Jews with yarmulkes, long sideburns,…
The Pope, wearing a fabulous, vintage chiffon-lined Dior Gold lamé gown over a silk Vera Wang empire waist tulle cocktail dress, accessorized with a 3-foot beaded peaked House of Whoville hat, and the ruby slippers Judy Garland wore in the Wizard of Oz, is on his way to tell us it’s wrong to be gay.
Father Norton woke up Sunday morning and realizing it was an exceptionally beautiful and sunny early spring day, decided he just had to play golf. So… he told the Associate Pastor that he was feeling sick and persuaded him to say Mass for him that day. As soon as the Associate Pastor left the room,…
1. Find an attractive prisoner of war, bring her home, shave her head, trim her nails, and give her new clothes. Then she’s yours. ~ (Deuteronomy 21:11-13) 2. Find a prostitute and marry her. ~ Hosea (Hosea 1:1-3) 3. Find a man with seven daughters, and impress him by watering his flock. ~ Moses (Exodus 2:16-21) 4….
The gender-neutral Mx. is used as a title for those who do not identify as being of a particular gender, or for people who simply don’t want to be identified by gender. Though the earliest print evidence dates to 1977, the word has only recently become popular. Pronounced to sound like mix or mux, the…
A transgender student at a Florida high school can use the men’s restroom during his senior year, a federal judge says. The judge ruled last Thursday that 18-year-old Drew Adams can use the men’s restroom at Nease High School in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida when classes resume next month. Citing a district policy, the school…
Depression remains one of the most pressing issues in the country, and one of the most overlooked. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, at least 16.2 million people in the US suffered at least one episode of depression. Women are more prone to be depressed than males, or at least double the rate…
by Karen Armstrong It is wrong – and dangerous – to believe literal truth cIt is both wrong and dangerous to believe that literal truth can be found in religious texts. Human beings, in nearly all cultures, have long engaged in a rather strange activity. They have taken a literary text, given it special status…
Dear family As I believe most of you know I am a monk and a member of a monastic community called “The Community of Solitude”. So what is solitude? It is my belief that the whole universal church is called to spend periods of time in solitude seeking God and yet for me and other…
by Isaac Archuleta As a shame-filled 20-something, I would recite the New International Version of Philippians 1:20 as my prayer for perfection: “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life…
My parents were raised Lutheran in Germany and East Prussia, but joined the Mormon church while single in their late twenties after much investigation. They were drawn to the aspect of living prophets and genealogy (saving your ancestors) and eternal families. So I was born and raised in the Mormon church. As a child growing…
For many years I have been on a journey. This journey began with my being raised in a Congregationalist church. Then I became “Born Again” and became an Evangelical. That was followed by my being “Baptized in the Holy Spirit” with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Thus I became a Pentecostal/Charismatic preacher for 34…
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline US 1-800-273-8255 Canada 1-833-456-4566 Trans LifeLine – All Ages 1-877-330-6366 Wonder drug: Ketamine can lift you from deep depression within minutes of administration There is no shame in having suicidal feelings. There is no reason you should not ask for…
June 18, 2018 – It was just a month ago that Pope Francis told a man that God had made him gay and that God loved him. But now the pope says that gay couples can’t be considered as families. In unscripted remarks Saturday to the Forum delle Famiglie, an Italian lay movement representing Catholic…
I was 38 years old before it really occurred to me, hey who the hell am i, what do i really want out of life, and how do i get it? I should have tried to figure that out at 20, but when i hit the brick wall of responsibility i rebelled against childhood issues…
A New Feudal System The feudal system in the “dark ages” was justified by the belief that one group of people (the nobles) was inherently better than the rest (peasants, serfs, general peons, etc.) – there was a natural hierarchy due to their “breeding.” The “strong” could repress the “weak” because it was their natural…
Capitalism The goal of capitalism is to pay the cheapest wages, use the cheapest materials and processes and sell the results for the highest possible price, to result in the most profit or capital, which is then supposed to be reinvested to make more of the same. We know what the results of largely unregulated…
DEFINITIONS Let’s define some terms to eliminate some usual misunderstandings right away: Communism Communism is derived from the same root as community, common, and commune. Because of all the baggage, a better word is probably “commonism.” Communism is everything that is shared in common, owned collectively by we the people, including even now public roads,…
(NOTE: I didn’t mean for so many of my articles here to have the word “suck” in the title! But it just happened that two of them, written at completely different times, needed to be divided into multiple parts. Anyway, here we go…) The issue here is not really capitalism as a whole, it is…
What is an artist? Creative? Intuitive? Weird. Outside the box. What box? Outside of my own box. Raconteur? That sounds “rakish” but it really just means “storyteller.” We’re telling our stories and we must be arrogant enough to believe enough other people will relate to them for us to make a living at it. Freaks…
Who decided that if I tie something tightly around my neck I will work more effectively? What the hell is that? It’s bad enough that we’re judged by what we look like, what we have, what we do, who we know and how hip we aren’t. All of those assessments are based on the shape…
A little thing i wrote years ago, but, better late than never… Who needs coffee? Just wake up late enough so that if you catch one stop light red, you’ll get fired. It may take awhile of being late to work up to this point, but so much the better. I wake up by screaming…
Here’s a little something i wrote many years ago for a co-worker who left for a new job: Please mark your calendars for a celebration/mourning of sorts, as Diane is leaving our humble enclave for pastures at least as green (although she’ll still be outstanding in her field ? . ‘Twil be a mourning for…
Have you ever been told “pride comes before the fall”? It is one of those sayings we hear often that is attributed to the Bible but is not actually in the Bible. The idea is taken from Proverbs 16:8 which says, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” (KJV). Taking hold…
June 3, 2018 – by Brother Lawrence Damien Cos It is Pride Month here in much of the USA. The following is an article I wrote to celebrate that fact. I was on Facebook when I came across an article on Baron Von Steuben who was a famous American general back in the American Revolution…
Gloriously Free is the first documentary ever to explore the world of gay immigration and the desperate search of five men to find welcoming arms outside their countries of birth, where persecution and hatred of alternative lifestyles may lead to torture or death. What they find is Canada, a vast country that now leads the…
Today I made a mistake, a major mistake. I was working from home tonight and needed to send an email to the whole church. Being at home, I did not have access to the all church email. So, I came up with what I thought was a solution. I looked at my sent emails, found…
Sixteen years ago at Thanksgiving 2002 I began a journey that would ultimately take me from the Evangelicalism of my younger years to my becoming a Catholic in 2008 which I still am. During that time as a man dedicated to following the “Word” and Jesus I have had a problem and wrestled over seemingly…
And Then Came Lola Bam Bam & Celeste Big Dreams in Little Hope Bloomington Breaking The girls Butch Jamie By Hook or by Crook Chely Wright Concussion Edie & thea Elana Undone Face 2 Face Fingersmith I Can’t Think Straight Imagine me & You Kiss Me Lovers & Friends – Final Season Make the Yuletide…
Recently the US under president Trump moved the its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in Israel sparking a lot of concern, consternation and violence by those opposed to the move mainly Arabs. Part of the problem as I see it is something called Zionism and the belief on the part of many that we…
May 22, 2018 – A new study led by a Belgian neurologist found that brain activity in transgender people resembles that found in cisgender people of their gender more than their sex assigned at birth. Julie Bakker of the University of Liege led the research, which involved MRI scans of 160 transgender people diagnosed with…
May 21, 2018 – Jennifer Aniston has been tapped to play America’s first lesbian president on the upcoming Netflix film First Ladies.
May 21, 2018 – Pope Francis reportedly told a gay man that God made him gay.
Guide to LGBT finances: You can live a richer life – How to save now, protect your assets, plan a family, and erase your credit card debt Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans have made extraordinary strides toward equality in recent years, yet obstacles remain – including disparities in personal finance.
LAST CHANCE I know this is getting way long, so let’s move to the last game of the year. The pressure is on, i have to talk to her, it’s my one goal of the night (in addition to doing my job well as always ? ). But i decide to relax and wait for…
(Shortly here i switch to present tense, i don’t know why but it feels right so i’ma just leave it.) A BAD DAY At a concert i hadn’t seen her the whole time even after walking to the other side to see if i could. Once the event is over i am always hell bent…
Today is forty days since we celebrated Easter and the glorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus from the grave. Now He is preparing to return back to the father and no longer be visible to the disciples and others whom He has just spent the last forty days with teaching and instructing them. The disciples…
A video interview study about the school experiences of LGBTQ families living in Ontario (2014 – 2020) Welcome to LGBTQ Families Speak Out About School at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, September 2014 – June 2020 Hello! Welcome to the Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Families Speak Out…
April 24, 2018 – Disney Parks just released rainbow Mickey Mouse ears, just in time for Pride Month.
April 30, 2018 – A survivor of “conversion therapy” tries to find a church that doesn’t just tolerate, but embraces. The church service was exactly how I remembered it as a child. I raised my hands in praise as the worship team sang songs I had heard on the radio every day of my childhood….
This season, Veronica was joined by another girl (we’ll call her Jessica), at least as cute but she just seemed more approachable, so i thought i would make more of an effort if i could, plus with the two of them i could talk to both, less awkward. She is also very young though, and…
This got so long i split it into four parts. I wrote this partly to document it for myself, but i hope people can relate, regardless of the gender(s). Whenever i get a new job, especially a temp one, or join a new group or go to a meeting (or wherever! The grocery store?), i…
April 23, 2018 – Christie Elan-Cane may get a step closer to that goal this week. CHELTENHAM, England (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – In a 25-year battle to have the identity of genderless people recognized in British passports, Christie Elan-Cane fought depression and unemployment. The campaigner, who was born female but identifies as neither male nor…
See Part 1 here April 2018 Update: Since the running of the article in Out and About Newspaper a decade ago much has occurred. I am no longer with the partner mentioned in the article, but am happily engaged to a wonderful man named Joe who also brought into my life his daughter Brianna. Joe…
The people at Starbucks managed to arrange a meeting with the Pope at the Vatican. After the papal blessing, the Starbucks official whispers, “Your Holiness, we have an offer for you. Starbucks is prepared to donate $100 million to the church if you change the Lord’s Prayer from ‘give us this day our daily bread’…
“Don’t let your worries get the best of you. Remember, Moses started out as a basket case” Some people are kind, polite, and sweet-spirited – until you try to sit in their pews. Many folks want to serve God, but only as advisers.
In recent years there has been a rise of Conservative Evangelicalism which has to pass itself off as the legitimate and only form of true Christianity. Theirs is faith-centered in a personal relationship with Jesus, and following a conservative theological understanding of the Bible, as well as a politically conservative agenda. Their idea is to…
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